Chicken Tortilla Soup

Hi my name is Tina, and I eat soup in the summertime. There I said it.

I have been on the biggest soup kick lately which is strange (I know) seeing as our average temperatures have been in the 90’s around here. Nonetheless, I ate broccoli soup THREE times last week, ordered a lemon chicken orzo soup at Panera on Sunday after Church, and then HAD to make this tortilla soup on Monday night. I have a problem. I know it.

Something about soup is soothing like a good ol’ comfort food, but light on the stomach at the same time. Perfect for me these days!

Confession (since we’re on a role with being open and honest around here): During the 9 months we tried to get pregnant, I got really stressed out and gained a good 8-10 lbs (UGH)… lucky for me, I’m 5′ 8″ so it’s not really noticable to anyone but myself, but it’s driving me nuts. So I decided that after the recent devastating event – stress eating is NOT an option. I’m making it a mission to looks those extra lbs before we are able to start trying again. So if things start looking a little “lighter” around here you’ll know why!

On a side note: Please feel free to link up your favorite (tasty) healthy recipes that are a “must try” in the comments section (I’d love to hear your favs!)!

Back to this incredible soup. I’ve been eyeing this recip up over on PW’s website for MONTHS. We have a little Mexican restaurant here in town that we love and they have a tortilla soup that is my absolute FAVORITE. It’s the first one I’d ever had that was topped with cool avacado and fresh tomato. Yowza! (yes, I just said YOW-ZA)

Needless to say, when I saw Ree’s recipe that looked JUST like it I was ecstatic! Being the rebel that I am, I can never follow a recipe to the “t”… I made some changes to reflect my own personal liking (Enter: Cayenne). Feel free to get creative with your recipes… you don’t have to feel limited to following them word for word. Add more spice if you like more spice (you know we always add us some more spice around here!).

This soup is actually pretty darn healthy even though it doesn’t taste it – tomato/broth based soup loaded with veggies (scale back the olive oil if you want and use some non-stick spray), topped with fresh tomato, heart healthy avocado, a dallop of light sour cream, and some reduced fat shredded cheese. Killer.

So let’s get down to business: scroll down… print the recipe… and make this ASAP. okay? okay.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix together the spice mix: cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and cayenne. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil evenly on the chicken breasts, and place them onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle a teaspoon or two of the spice mix on both sides of the chicken breast (Reserve the rest of the spice mix for later). Bake chicken for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Shred chicken by pulling them apart using two forks and set aside until ready to use.

While the chicken is cooking, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the chopped onions, red pepper, and green pepper. Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes, or until veggies have begun to soften. Add in the grated garlic and stir for another minute or two.

Next, stir in the remaining spice mix and then add the shredded chicken and stir until combined. Stir in the tomato paste and then add the rotel, chicken broth, water, and black beans. Bring to a boil (stirring often) and then reduce heat to a simmer and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Mix the cornmeal with a splash of water and pour into the soup. Allow soup to continue to simmer for an additional 15-30 minutes. Taste to check seasonings, adding more salt or cayenne if needed. Turn off heat and add the tortilla strips to the soup. Ladel up and serve hot. Don't forget to add a good amount of your favorite toppings!

Oh my! This soup DOES look divine! My confession, not only do I also eat soup in the summertime, I crave ice cream in the winter. (Actually I crave ice cream year round, but it seems odd how much I crave it in the winter.)

If you’re looking for lighter recipes, I highly recommend the Indian Spiced Chicken & Curried Quinoa with Chickpeas & Almonds recipes (two separate recipes, with the same photo) on my blog. I’m sorry, I can’t link you to them, because my work has decided today that my blog must be spam and won’t let me access it! Anyways, the quinoa recipes is actually from Weight Watchers, and DELICIOUS!! You can find them in my May 2011 archives, as well as a really healthy tuna salad you can eat for lunches!

I love soup all year..My hubby though he’s not a big soup fan but luckily he’s gone a lot so more time to make soup for me and the kids LOL! …Your husbands brave for eating soup on your white couch..as for me I have 3 chins and none of them catch my food so yep right into my lap it goes hehehe!!!!
Can’t wait to make this!
mandy

So glad to see you back lately! Still praying for you guys, though. This recipe looks phenomenal! I confess, I love soup in the summer, too (or any time really). Unfortunately, my hubby doesn’t like soup very much, so it doesn’t get on our menu rotation pretty much ever. Once we move back to Florida (my home-state) on Monday, I know some people who would LOVE this as much as I do. Looking forward to it! 🙂

oh, girl – you haven’t felt humidity until you’ve been to FL! haha It’s ROUGH here (year round). I googled it and found this little tidbit out “The highest dew points in the US are found in coastal Florida and Texas. When comparing Key West and Houston, two of the most humid cities from those states, coastal Florida seems to have the higher dew points on average.” Useless information for the day hehe Thanks for the website tip!

I’m from Ocala, Florida, born and raised. I got married in April, and we moved to Michigan so my husband could finish flight school. Now that he’s finished, we’re moving back down to Ocala! We can’t wait.

oh you won’t be far from me at all! I live in Jupiter which is north of West Palm Beach… but my hubby is from Orlando so we are there all the time to visit his family! We’ll have to meet up for coffee sometime! 🙂

YUM! This looks awesome. Soups make me so happy…I love making big batches and either having it leftover for a few days or freezing some for later! This one sounds lovely; I actually had been eyeing it on PW’s site too!

Hey, after researching a gazillion recipes for this, I made yours, with one change-I did fry the tortilla chips, and those that survived (um, they are really yummy fresh made) went to the bottom of the bowls. Husband disappeared with second bowl down to the man-cave mumbling “wow, this soup is really good!!!” Score!!!!!! PS-yr in my thoughts, hope life and luck turns up for you two really soon. In the meantime, you have an awesome looking dog.

So, it is still in the 90’s here in SW Florida but when I came across your recipe I couldn’t resist making a pot full. Me, my husband and all 4 of my kids love it! Anytime is a good time for soup! Thanks for sharing.

LOL MIKE @ the natty! ahahahaha its all good. Kristina – the soup looks incredible I love this soup but mine doesn’t look like yours =( just a little personal preference I like to throw lime juice in mine thanks for posting the recipe yum yum

this was AWESOME!!!! I have looked for tortilla soup recipes before and never really found an easy one. This was GREAT. I used a rotisserie chicken. Husband LOVED it and said it was as good as anything he ever got in a recipe. My 6 year old loved it but it was too spicy so I made another batch today and it was just as good minus the chili, cayenne and tomatoes. THank you, can’t wait to make more of your recipes.

You’ve done it again! This soup was redonkulously good! It’s like everything you crave in Mexican food right there in a bowl. I left out the strips and served wedges of cheese quesadilla (as a kind of grilled cheese sandwich type thing). I can’t decide if I like this or your French onion soup better – both are outstanding. 🙂

[…] Loved the powder we finally got but I’ve got a bit of wipe lash from a big fall. I still made Chicken Tortilla soup sans the Tortilla that I found on another healthy living blog. I did feel bad that I skipped core […]